o-Carboxybenzoylferrocene. Bioactivity and chemical Modifications

The antitumor activity of o-carboxybenzoylferrocene sodium salt (1) was studied in vivo. Interaction between o-carboxybenzoylferrocene (2) and N,N′-carbonyldiimidazole in boiling methylene dichloride leads to 3-(N-imidazolyl)-3-ferrocenylisobenzofuran-1(3H)-one (5). The structure of compound 5 was established by X-ray analysis. Aminolysis of compound 5 in toluene gave rise to ferrocenoylbenzamides (6a–d)–derivatives of dimethylamine, piperidine, pyrrolidine and morpholine. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.